BY MARY UYEMATSU KAO
Hopefully you have all seen the powerful documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee,” directed by Julie Ha (former staff writer for The Rafu) and Eugene Yi, released April 24, 2023.
The film documents Chol Soo Lee’s case of false imprisonment for a murder he did not commit, which led to a double murder conviction for killing another inmate in self-defense. While spending his young adult years in prison, a pan-Asian international movement grew to force the wheels of justice to release him on March 28, 1983. Sadly, he was not prepared to live as a “normal” human being in “free” society. (www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/free-chol-soo-lee/)
Lesser known, but equally if not more powerful, are the prison experiences written by Chol Soo Lee (CSL) himself. “Freedom Without Justice: The Prison Memoirs of Chol Soo Lee” (FWJ) was edited by Richard S. Kim, a professor of Asian American studies at UC Davis.
In an email to me, Richard writes: “I worked on it for CSL. He was happy it was going to be published before his passing. It took many years to work on it. CSL wrote a 600-page handwritten manuscript so it took time to decipher much of it and then make it readable.
“I had great assistance in editing. Students also helped with transcribing the manuscript. It was really a community-engaged project like the movement! But CSL had a way of capturing scenes that was incredible, as I write in the intro. He was a natural-born writer.”
I met Chol Soo Lee at a 2013 event organized by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, then under the direction of David Yoo. A panel of some of the main players in the movement, including Chol Soo, Richard Kim, K.W. Lee, Tom Byun, Grace Kim, Warren Furutani, and Jai Lee Wong, made for an important history lesson for those who attended.
No longer the good-looking guy from his younger days, Chol Soo had suffered major disfigurement while committing arson in the early 1990s.
Richard explains in his introduction to FWJ: “Chol Soo’s life after prison was anything but joyous. … Upon his release in 1983, there were no reentry programs waiting for him. … Lee felt he remained imprisoned … he was … ‘not able to adjust to society after living almost like a caged animal where violence is rampant and [there is] a code of conduct that is totally different from normal society’…
“Wrongfully incarcerated for life during one of California’s most violent eras of prison gang warfare, Chol Soo Lee offers an insider’s view … where racial rivalries are incited and exploited by prison officials.”
From his initial contacts with Joe Fong, leader of San Francisco’s Joe Boys, to becoming Johnny Spain’s chess buddy in the yard, or trading treats in San Quentin’s Death Row with Stanley “Tookie” Williams of Crips fame, Chol Soo weaves his story of survival.
Spain was famous for being one of the San Quentin 6 who were involved in the famous escape attempt of George Jackson in 1971. Jackson, a Black Panther Party member, was killed along with two other inmates and three guards. Spain was recruited by Jackson and became one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party prison movement for prisoners’ rights and harmony among inmates.
In Chol Soo’s first introduction to the brutality of prison culture, he writes: “It was truly shocking to witness such brutality by humans on another human being. I had never in my life seen such brutal force. I was also shocked to see so many guards watch the stabbing from outside the yard while none tried to stop it. It was truly an awakening for me to realize that if I were ever a victim of a stabbing, I could never rely on prison guards to help me.”
Early on, Chol Soo took on a challenge from Nuestra Familia (NF) to bomb someone in protective custody (PC). The home-made bomb almost took off two of his fingers, but he writes of the results: “As the only Korean, let alone Asian, among all those gang members, I did the bombing to show I was as tough as anybody in prison. I had been getting weird looks from some predatory convicts, and I thought this was a way to prove I could stand up for myself …
“Unknowingly, I had saved myself. If I had been attacked by NF members I would have fought back, and I would have gotten killed, so I was very lucky that I took that action against the PC, who was not hurt by the bombing. I passed the test, which may have saved my life and kept my sense of self and dignity intact.”
Chol Soo writes of Joe Fong as one of the few successful convicts to get out and make a life for himself. Fong’s instructive survival advice: “Whatever you do, stay out of problems and don’t try to show off. We had a problem a while back with a Chinese guy who worked in the laundry room. He started to show off like he knew kung fu, and we told him to stop several times, but the guy didn’t listen.
“He ended up getting raped by two black guys in the laundry room and ended up PC-ing. So keep to yourself and don’t try to show off.”
Interspersed with his survival challenges, which included four years on Death Row, you also learn how the movement was built that eventually got him released. The constant throughout was the steadfast support he received from Ranko Yamada, a San Francisco Nihonmachi activist. She spent years unable to get substantial support until the case finally got the attention of K.W. Lee, an investigative reporter for The Sacramento Union.
Chol Soo recounts his visits with K.W. and the eventual groundswell that resulted from K.W.’s articles on his case. A vast array of people from the Korean immigrant community, American-born Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Asian American movement activists, and even international support from Korea and Japan filled out the ranks of the Free Chol Soo Lee Movement.
Heavy participation from Japanese American activists included Peggy Saika, Don Tamaki, the late Jeff Adachi, David Kakishiba, Jeff Mori, Mike Suzuki, and Gary Eto — just to name a few.
Doris Yamasaki, who gave Chol Soo free haircuts and free meals in his early days, was a vital supporter and his mother’s best friend. Warren Furutani and Jai Lee Wong from Los Angeles started the L.A. Chapter of the Chol Soo Lee Defense Committee. Michi Nishiura Weglyn was one of his many correspondents, and she hooked up the TV interview of Chol Soo with ABC’s “20/20” program in 1982. The “20/20” interview was crucial in publicizing his case and the movement to support him.
There is so much more to this story — equally intriguing is, as editor Kim best describes, the “bizarre, twisted journey through the California criminal justice system.” I’ve focused on his survival in prison and the significant involvement from the JA community. Chol Soo’s postscript expresses his most sensitive feelings for Ranko Yamada, his lifelong inspiration because of her “unwavering struggle for justice.”
While his memoirs end with his release from prison, the haunting title “Freedom Without Justice” speaks volumes to the rest of his life. He passed on Dec. 2, 2014 at age 62.
In a 2005 interview, Richard Kim asked Chol Soo why his story is important. Chol Soo said: “I feel that the greatest message that could be given from the Chol Soo Lee movement is that, as Mr. K.W. Lee said, the purity, the unselfishness, the integrity of people, giving to a stranger. And I think that message needs to be brought back to the Asian [American] community.
“I think we live in a world of selfishness. All the past movements, the civil rights to gain the right to attend schools and so forth, and now that education is being used for ‘everything is for me.’ We have no room to share with others. I think that if [my] story could be told, yes, there is small room there.
“There are still deprived people, even more deprived people than in the past. The need to give today is far greater than in my own time.”
“Freedom Without Justice: The Prison Memoirs of Chol Soo Lee” by Chol Soo Lee, edited by Richard S. Kim. Published June 2017 by University of Hawaii Press. 342 pages, 13 b&w illustrations. ISBN-13: 9780824872885
https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/freedom-without-justice-the-prison-memoirs-of-chol-soo-lee/
Mary Uyematsu Kao is the author/photographer of “Rockin’ the Boat: Flashbacks of the 1970s Asian Movement” and formerly the publications coordinator of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center (1987-2018). She received her MA from UCLA Asian American Studies in 2007. She welcomes comments, questions, and/or criticisms at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those ofThe Rafu Shimpo.